Can the church stop the Belarusian unrest?
The topic of this article is atypical for me. I am not a deeply church-going person and therefore I try not to write about church affairs. But historically, it was the church that was often a very significant force in resolving political crises and unrest. The Russian Orthodox Church played a decisive role in the Russian Troubles of the XNUMXth century. Will it help end the Belarusian turmoil of the XNUMXst century?
Belarus is a multi-confessional state. With an Orthodox majority, there is a Catholic West and a large number of different Protestants, with their own Muslim and Jewish communities. Of course, the split in Belarusian society also affected the religious sphere. The most striking example is the Catholic Archbishop Tadeusz Kondrusiewicz, who openly condemned Lukashenko and took the side of his opponents and whom Lukashenko actually expelled from Belarus, banning him from entering the country, despite having Belarusian citizenship.
Among the Orthodox, the political confrontation in the country also exacerbated internal contradictions, but they were luckier with the leadership. At the very beginning of the crisis, on August 25, 52-year-old Veniamin (Tupeco), a prominent representative of the Belarusian clergy, a traditionalist and ascetic, more interested in spiritual affairs than worldly political passions, unexpectedly became the new Metropolitan of Minsk and Zaslavsky. This predetermined a lot.
In Belarus, the role of religion is less than in Russia. Lukashenko is not a believer. In his own words, he is an “Orthodox atheist.” And he views the church as another state institution, almost an offshoot of his “ideological vertical.” On November 2, during his first detailed conversation with Veniamin, he tried to impose just such a model - he spoke in a patronizing tone, promised the Metropolitan to solve the personnel problem with priests, talked about tying church parishes to the territory of village councils, as if we were talking about optimizing one of the state structures.
He also does not recognize the separation of church and state. For him, the metropolitan is a statesman like the rest.
The Metropolitan, as it turned out, did not want to become an “ideological worker.” Within the church, he made it clear that he would not accept political extremes on either side. Scammers and overly zealous supporters of Lukashenko, like the Grodno abbess Gabriela, who made an aggressive speech at a pro-government women's forum, also received a message.
And his recent sermon in the Minsk Cathedral of the Icon of the Mother of God “Joy of All Who Sorrow” can even be called Lukashenko’s answer to an Orthodox clergyman, for whom the church and the law of God are much higher than the current political situation. Unlike the Catholic archbishop, his position was not political, but Christian. But there was also a place in it for condemning violence, no matter who it came from, and saying that it is unfair to lay the blame for what is happening on only one side. The Metropolitan called on both sides, including those who “exceeded their authority,” to repentance and mutual steps towards each other.
“Each side must take its own step and be convinced that there will be an appropriate step forward,” Veniamin said.
I repeat, Belarus is a fairly secular state and the role of the church in it is low. But now the state of affairs in the republic is such that there are two main warring parties that do not hear each other, have their teeth in their hands and are leading it to disaster.
The “Peace Party” in Belarus is too weak and cannot effectively influence the situation, and the main part of society is passive, scared and demoralized. In such a situation, the church can become the only internal force that has already demonstrated its neutrality and commitment to moral principles and at the same time has sufficient moral authority to try to cool the ardor of the parties and stop the bloodshed. Otherwise, peacekeeping will be carried out by external forces.
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